A New Era

with us and with me and join me. And thank you for this opportunity this Wednesday evening to come and worship in song and to study your word, Lord. We lift up the activities that are going on in the chapel, Lord, the children's church with the youngsters there and the teachers that will be in teaching there. We ask for your blessing on them and the youngsters and the youth group with the youth group leaders there that you'd bless their time with the youth group.

And we lift up the nursery, Lord, and we thank you for those little youngsters and that you'd bless those babies and those keeping. Father, we pray you'd bless our time in here in the chapel as we worship in song and study your word. Would you be glorified, Lord? Could we trust you, Lord, in this world that seems kind of chaotic to us at times? We thank you that you're always in control behind the scenes.

Nothing takes you by surprise. We can trust you in all things. And we thank you for that, Lord.

We thank you that you're always the same. You never change. You're the same yesterday, today, and we do want those things that hinder us from serving you to be able to be given to you, Lord, that we may surrender to you, Lord, and give us the willingness to be willing to allow you to draw us into that surrender to you, Lord.

We know it's more than a song, Lord. We know it's more than a song, as we'll be singing about, because this time is an expression as we worship you, what really, through the songs, through the melodies, to express the worship we have for you that goes on through the week, Lord. And so, Lord, may we worship you in all that you do for us and worship you because you're God. You're worthy of our praise as you provide work for us, as you provide health for us, as you are there for us in every situation in life.

And you're sovereign, Lord. What your will is always best, Lord. Whatever it may be that we go through, whatever it may be that we go through, whatever it may be that we go through, whatever it may be that we go through, whatever it may be that we go through, whatever it may be that we go through, whatever it may be that we go through, whatever it may be that we go through, whatever it may be that we go through, Lord, whatever we're facing, you are so good, Lord, to us, and we thank you. You search much deeper, every single...

more than a song, Lord. We bring you ourselves, and may the song be an expression as we look to you, as we honor you, as we worship you. And we give you all the thanks in Jesus' name. Lord, bless our time as Pastor Ryan comes up to teach your word, anointing by the power of your Holy Spirit to bring forth your word. Would you fill us afresh, Lord, by your Holy Spirit tonight,

with your Holy Spirit, that we may... for your wisdom and the revelation and knowledge of your will, that you would enlighten the eyes of our understanding, that we would, being adopted,

may we serve you on this pilgrimage walk, in Jesus' name. Amen? The Lord bless you. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 8. 1 Samuel, chapter 8. The goal is to cover chapters 8 through 9, and I've titled it, A New Era. We said that the first 8 chapters of 1 Samuel cover the ministry of the prophet Samuel, both his calling into ministry and what he did as the prophet.

The focus will shift in chapter 8 and into chapter 9 to the reign of King Saul. And that's kind of what we see in this shifting of chapter 8, because we'll find that in chapter 8, Israel will demand a king. Now, in chapter 8, Israel will demand a king. chapter 7, we saw a great revival that took place amongst the people. A great revival in the land had happened, and it happened through the ministry of Samuel. And it ended in chapter 7 by saying

that basically Samuel became a prophet that followed a circuit. So he traveled a lot for his ministry. And that's an important point as we come into chapter 8, verse 1. In chapter 8, verse 1, it says this. And it came about when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah.

And they were judging in Beersheba. His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and took bribes and perverted justice. So the first thing that we see is we see Samuel walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain and perverted justice. Now, we're given the little disclaimer here that Samuel is now old. In other words,

we're nearing the end of his ministry. We're nearing really the end of his life. It is going to last a while longer because he will anoint David as king as well. But he's coming kind of towards the end. And as he has grown older, he has seen the need to have someone take over for him at some point in time. And he does something. He appoints his sons as judges. Now, it's

only time that we see that a man appoints his son as a judge. Throughout the book of Judges, which Samuel provides the link between the judges and the kings, throughout the book of Judges, anytime a new judge was appointed, it was because God called them into ministry, not because man appointed them into ministry. And so here we see a little bit of a mistake on the part of Samuel. And as great of a man as he was, he was still at his greatest, a man.

And so he appoints his sons as judges. And it does bring up a really good point. The ministry is not an inheritance. I actually have noticed within not only the Calvary Chapel movement, but in churches in general, that sometimes a pastor that has sons will want to think, I need to hand off my ministry to my sons. And the ministry really is not supposed to be an

inheritance. Does it work that way sometimes? Yes, but that's not the way it always works. And unfortunately, Samuel viewed his ministry as the prophet, his ministry as the judge, as an inheritance to be handed off to his sons. Now, the biggest problem was not just that he appointed his sons by maybe making a step that wasn't really his to take, but the biggest problem was that his sons were not spiritually

prepared to be judges. We find that their issue is this, verse three, his sons did not walk in his ways, but they turned aside after dishonest gain, and they took bribes and perverted justice. You see, if you will, they began to figure out a way to make money off of the ministry. They started taking bribes as ministers. Now, it's kind of interesting to notice this because remember the sons of Eli, the high priest, isn't it kind of

interesting that Samuel oversaw the judgment, if you will, of Eli and his family, because Eli's sons also did not walk in the ways of the Lord and Samuel finds himself in the same position. But did you, if you remember the issue that Eli's sons had is that they were laying with all of the ladies that would come to the temple. Their issue was, you know, they were laying with all of the ladies that would come to the temple. They were laying with all of the ladies that would come to sexual immorality. When we, when we come to the sons of Samuel, their issue was not sexual

immorality. Their issue was money. And it reminds us that those two issues become major problems for people in general, but also people in ministry. There's one other problem that's not mentioned here, and that's that oftentimes ministers struggle with pride. And it reminds me of a wise man named Billy Graham. And Billy Graham, early on in his ministry, as he began to,

as he began to build a ministry and build, if you will, an organization, a ministerial organization, set up a system by which all of the men in his ministry would stay protected. And he had three rules that every man in his ministry had to pay attention to. You can't touch the money, you can't touch the women, and you can't touch the glory. And every man in his ministry had to follow those principles. It was the guidelines by which everyone in his ministry had to follow those principles.

His ministry was to operate. And do you know that Billy Graham never had some great scandal around him because of that? Because he had made a decision that he would not allow those things to bring him down. And unfortunately, we don't see that take place here with these sons. These sons have not walked in the way of Samuel. Instead, they have followed after dishonest gain. But that causes a

whole other question, I think, that we need to look at. Why is it that oftentimes men that God uses in the greatest, ways have kids that end up not walking with the Lord? We saw it with Eli. We see it with Samuel. We will see it with David's sons. And actually, we see it in lots of other ways throughout scripture. We see that oftentimes those who God would use the greatest, their kids have

sometimes the biggest struggles in following the things of the Lord. Why is that? Well, because these guys that God uses greatly are still just people. And they're people that make mistakes. And you know, as well as I do, that it doesn't just take a minister that sometimes neglect their kids. Everybody can tend to do this, right? You see, times get busy. And we get busy with the things of life. Samuel got busy with ministry, right?

He was busy with ministry because he was on this circuit of riding around to the different regions where he was ministering. And as he was getting really, really busy, time with his sons maybe began to take a little bit of a backseat. He no longer decided to do this. He no longer decided to do this. He no longer decided to do this. He was discipling everybody else, but he wasn't discipling his sons. He was judging everyone else

in the positive way, not the negative way. He was being the judge for everyone else, but he wasn't being the judge for his sons. He was speaking the word of God into everyone else's life, but he wasn't speaking the word of God into his kids' lives. And there's a really good warning for all of us as parents and grandparents that sit in here today. Do not neglect the importance

of you in the life of your kids and your grandkids. I know this as a youth pastor. As a youth pastor, I used to watch kids come into my youth group and they would be on fire for the Lord, but their parents weren't. And so when they would come to my youth group, they would get excited about the things of God. They would get excited about the truth of God. And then they would go back home where their parents told them that church stuff

is just that. It's just that church stuff. And it's really not that big of a deal. And you know what? The ones whose parents did not support their walk with Jesus Christ, the parents who did not reinforce what I was teaching them to do, they would be on fire for the Lord, but their parents on a Wednesday night had the hardest time continuing to walk with Jesus. You know why?

Because parents' influence in their lives is greater than they know. Kids don't want to admit that at this age. Kids don't want to admit that when they're little kids, when they're teenagers, you name it. They don't want to admit that. But as they get older, they will look back and they will realize the greatest influence I had in my life was my parents. For the good, listen, and for the bad.

Because sometimes, you know, I don't want to admit that. I don't want to admit that. Sometimes the influence we have on our kids is reinforcing the truth of God's Word in their life. And sometimes the influence that we have on our kids is reinforcing that they don't need God's Word in their life. What kind of influence are you going to be? Now, if you're sitting here tonight

and you're going, I've not been a very good influence on my kids, I don't want you to think that hope is lost. I don't care how old your kids are. I don't care if your kids are old. You still can have an influence in their lives. You still can go back and say, you know what? You may be 45 years old, and maybe I didn't do a good job. I'm training you about the things of God when you were a kid. Let's talk about it today.

Because it's never too late. You still have that kind of an influence in the lives of your kids. And so Samuel, unfortunately, had a weak spot in his life. And the weak spot that he had in his life was like it is for most of us. It was his kids. And so all the elders of Israel gathered, verse 4, says the elders of Israel gathered together and they came to Samuel at Ramah. And they said to him,

and behold, you have grown old. There's nothing anybody likes to hear more than a whole bunch of people gather around you and say, you are old. But that's what they do to Samuel, poor guy. And your sons don't walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all of the other nations. But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel. And when they said, give us a king to

judge us, Samuel prayed to the Lord. Now, there's two things that take place here. Number one is that they recognize a problem. They look at Samuel and they say, you're getting older. In other words, your ministry is not going to last forever. And we know that. We know that we need to find someone to replace you because you are not going to be able to continue in this role forever because there's going to come a point

in time when either because of age or because you're no longer with us, somebody's going to have to fill this role. And it can't be your sons. Their complaint was a legitimate complaint. They genuinely need to be replaced. And they're going to have to fill this role. And it can't be someone to fill the role of Samuel in their lives as Samuel was growing older and he needed to find

someone that he could hand off the ministry to. That is a legitimate need. And I think that it's something that every church has to pay attention to. It's something that every minister has to pay attention to that you have to have somebody in line that you can hand the ministry off to when the time comes that your body or your voice or whatever is not going to hold up to it any longer. And so this is a legitimate need that they bring up. And I think that's a legitimate need that

it gets illegitimate in the next verse when they say, or at the end of the verse when it says, appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations. This is where the mistake comes in. There's no problem that they needed a new spiritual leader. It was clear that his sons couldn't do it because they weren't in a spiritual position to do it. Their problem is this. They

said, give us a king. And that last phrase is really important. Like all of the nations. You see, the children of Israel wanted to be like everyone else around them. They wanted to be like the rest of the world. They're like, man, it's so cool to watch those people come into battle. They've got this sweet king with the crown on his head. And it's just epic, right? And it's easier

to obey someone. It's easier to see yourself submitting to an authority that you can see rather than an authority that you can't see. We want a king like all of the other nations. And this is where I like to talk to adults because adults love to put off on kids kids deal with peer pressure. Oh, you just want to be like everybody else around you. And that's true. Kids do want to be like everybody else around them, but they learned it from you.

And the quicker that we realize that we're just big kids that just want to be like everybody else around us, the quicker we can be broken before the Lord and he can start to change our heart. And this is exactly what they do. They're like, we want to be like everybody else. And the problem with the church today is that the church today, they want us to be just like the world around them. They want to be just like all of the other

nations around them. And so they ask for this king. This is the problem. We want to look enough like the world that we're cool, but enough like Jesus so that we can be saved. We usually want it both ways. And you know what Jesus has to say about that? You're going to have to choose one or the other. You're going to have to choose because you know what I really don't like?

I really don't like the world around me. I really don't like the world around me. I really don't like lukewarm. And that's exactly what you're being. You have what's called a divided heart. And this is what the nation dealt with. And ultimately this is going to be the problem throughout the rest of their history until they are taken captive by Babylon is that they have

this divided heart, a divided heart between wanting to follow God and wanting to be like all of the other nations around them, both in their gods and in their government. And it's something that we have to pay attention to in our own lives because we love to put this off on everybody else. We love everybody else has the problem of wanting to be like everyone else around them. But until we start looking into our own hearts and start saying, Lord, how am I divided in my heart? Then God can't really

ever do a revival in our church or revival in our city or revival in our nation, because it always starts with the church looking inside and saying, individually, where is my heart divided? And this is where the nation of Israel finds themselves. They say, we want a king like everybody else. And what she knows, the thing was displeasing in the side of Samuel. Why? Because Samuel felt rejected. Samuel felt rejected. Have you ever felt that way?

Have you ever felt like you've been rejected by people? Whether rejected by people because you've tried to be the leader and nobody wants to follow you, whether rejected because you feel like you're not accepted by the people around you, whatever it is, have you ever felt rejected? It's a hard thing to deal with. Rejection is one of the most difficult things that we all deal with as human beings. You know why? Because we all want to be like everyone else. We all want to be like everyone

else around us. And the hardest thing is when we find out that we're not and they reject us. And I think that Samuel's heart was broken. I think it was broken in a spiritual sense because he knew that ultimately the people were rejecting God. But where it was broken first was in a personal sense because he felt like they were rejecting him. And it was hard for him. And I

think his heart was broken by this. Listen, one of the hardest things about being in leadership is knowing that sometimes you live a life, feeling defeated because sometimes you just feel rejected, right? And this is what Samuel was dealing with, with the people. But I want you to notice how Samuel responds. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. I love that because Samuel went to the place where everybody has to go. No matter

what's going on in your life, you have to take it immediately to the Lord and say, Lord, right now, I'm really struggling with this. Lord, I feel defeated. I feel like I have failed. I feel rejected by the people. And I kind of feel like they've rejected you too. That's not as important as the fact that they've rejected me. But anyway, there's a rejection going on here and I'm having a hard time dealing with this.

And so he takes it to the Lord. And you know what I love? It's that the Lord responds to him. Verse eight, it says, or excuse me, verse seven, it says, the Lord said to Samuel, listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected, you, but they have rejected me from being king over them, like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt, even to this day, and that they have forsaken me and served other gods. So they are doing to you also. Listen to their voice. However,

you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them. Can we just, first of all, take note of the fact that God responded? I think that's so important to pay attention to because I don't know about you, but every now and then you ever feel like those prayers kind of hit the ceiling, right? It just hits the floor. And you're like, man, God responded to Samuel. And you know what God told Samuel? He said,

listen, go ahead and give them a king. But I need you to understand something. They've not rejected you. They've rejected me. And this isn't my first rodeo. They've been rejecting me ever since I brought them out of Egypt. Because they have been rejecting me and serving other gods. Listen, I need you all to know something. If anybody understands what it's like to be rejected by people, it's God. If anybody

understands what it's like to feel betrayed by people, it's God. If anybody understands what it's like to not be able to trust people, it's God. Because he's been rejected by people since the beginning of time. And God says, I need you to understand something. This isn't about you. This is about me. It's not about you, Samuel. And I think, again, that's a really important

word for us to remember. We make so many things about us when really it's not about us. We make everything about who we are. And God's like, no, no, you don't understand. This is me that they're dealing with right now. You're just the one in the way. And so he tells them, give them a king. Tell them what the king is going to do. And so this is what Samuel says to the people, verse 10.

So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked of him a king. He said, this will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you. He will take your sons and place them for himself and his chariots among his horsemen, and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers.

He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take of your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks and you yourselves will become his servants. Then you will cry out in that day, because,

because of your king whom you have chosen for yourself, but the Lord won't answer you. Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, No, there shall be a king over us, that we may also be like the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. Now, did you notice a theme in what Samuel had to say about what a king was going to do? What will everything be?

What will everything be about in the nation? The king. It's going to be about everything that he wants. It's going to be about his army, soldiers for his army, his vineyards, workers for his vineyards, his pleasure, workers for his pleasure, his fields and workers for his fields. He will ultimately be the authority in the land. They've rejected the authority of God who said, I will do

all of these things for you. And they've asked for the authority of man who says, you will do these things for me. Isn't it amazing how we do that? Isn't it amazing how we take what God has that is best for us, and he gives us what is worse for us. We're like, Lord, I think I want the bad thing. And he's like, you don't really want the bad thing. That's a bad thing. And then I really want the bad thing.

All right, I'll give you the bad thing, but I don't think you're going to like the bad thing. And it's interesting how we tend to do that. And so he lays all these things out for them. And you would think after all of that, they're like, yeah, you're right. That seems like a bad idea. They're like, nope, still want to do the king thing. We want to be like the other nations. Now,

I do believe that God ultimately had a plan to make a king over the nation. And I know that because there's within the book of Deuteronomy instructions for a king. I just think that they were rushing it. You see, the king that God is going to give them is the king that they think that they want instead of waiting for the king that God knows that they need. And we'll talk

about that as we get into these other chapters. And so, so they say, no, we still want the king. And I want you to notice what happens in verse 21. After Samuel heard all of the words of the people, he repeated them in the Lord's hearing. And the Lord said to Samuel, listen to their voice and appoint them a king. So Samuel said to the men of Israel, go every man to his city. And once you notice once again, what happens with

Samuel? Samuel once again tells these things to the Lord. The old King James translates this in a fascinating way. He says, I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know that I want you to know it says he whispers them in the ear of the Lord. Isn't that kind of interesting? Because as Samuel

hears these things, he does something fascinating. He does something that you would do with a close friend. It's like he leans in close and he tells them something that only each other can hear because that was the sort of relationship Samuel had with the Lord. Did he have weaknesses? Absolutely. But did Samuel know the Lord? Was he a man of prayer? Absolutely. And so he gave these

things to the Lord and God said, give them the king. And I'm just going to close chapter eight with this one. This one thing, be careful if you're willing for God to give you what he doesn't want to give you. Sometimes the worst thing that God can do is let your will be done to let my will be done. And sometimes he gives us what we want, not out of blessing, but out of judgment. And that's what

he's going to do with the nation right now. And so that brings us to chapter nine, Saul chosen to be king. Notice what it says. Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish. The son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekarath, the son of Apphia, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and handsome man.

Now there was not a more handsome person than he among the sons of Israel from his shoulders and up. He was taller than any of them. He was taller than any of the people. Saul was the picture perfect king. First of all, he had the right sort of family pedigree. Remember his father, his name was Kish, and he has this great line that he can trace all the way back to Benjamin. And it says he was a mighty man of valor. Now remember

that can be translated one of two ways. Either one, it means he's a great warrior or two, it means he's a great, a man of great wealth. We think it's probably both based upon that kind of like Boaz, right? He was a man of great wealth, but also a man, of great valor. And so he came from a wealthy family, right? So he comes from the right family. He has the right pedigree, if you will, as far as this is concerned. And he's everything that you

would want. He is more handsome than any man in all of the land. And he is head and shoulders taller than everybody else. And so he was someone that everyone could look up to. As far as anyone was concerned, you could not pick him up. He was a man of great wealth, but also a man of great wealth. And so he came from a wealthy family. Either one, it means he's a great warrior or two,

either one, it means he's a man of great wealth, but also a man of great wealth. And so he came from a wealthy family. And so he came from a wealthy family. And so he came from a wealthy family. a more perfect person than Saul to be the king. Listen, at least from outward pictures. He was the picture perfect candidate for king. But you know, as well as I do, God does not judge what's

on the outside of us. God looks at the heart. Now, as we get into Saul, there are going to be some good lessons that we learn because he starts off really good. Okay. So there are some interesting lessons that we learn. And I'm going to give you a few of them. And I'm going to give you a few of them throughout his life, but his heart was not fully for the Lord. We're going to find

out. So it says in verse three, now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father were lost. So Kish said to his son, Saul, take now with you one of the servants and arise and go search for the donkeys. And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and he passed through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did

not find them. And when they came to the land of Zoph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, come and let us return or else my father will cease to be concerned about the donkeys and will become anxious for us. He said to him, behold, now there is a man of God in this city and the man is held in honor. And all that he says surely comes true. Let's go there.

Perhaps he can tell us about our journey on which we have set out. And Saul said to his servant, but behold, if we go, what shall we bring to the man? For the bread is gone from our sack and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have? And the servant answered Saul and said, behold, I have in my hand a fourth of a shekel of silver. I will give it to the man of God and he

will tell us our way. Now, formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he used to say, come and let us go to the seer. For he who is called a prophet now was formerly called a seer. So the scene is set for us. Saul's family had lost three of their donkeys. Now, again, donkeys at this point in time would have been pretty important. It would have been like losing three work trucks, right?

Because they would have done a lot of work for a farmer at that point in time. So he needed to go find them. And so Saul and his servant set out to go find these donkeys and all encapsulated for you by saying they searched high and low for a really, really long time. I won't go back through all the names. They searched high and low for a very long time. They couldn't find the donkeys anywhere. And finally, Saul goes, we got to go home. Dad's

going to start worrying more about us than the donkeys. And his servant says, wait, I have heard that there's this guy, this guy that seems to know stuff. I think he's pretty well connected with God. And I think he could tell us. And Saul's going, we don't have anything to give him. Like we don't have any kind of a gift to present. It would be rude for us just to show up and expect him to,

to seek the Lord for us without bringing him some kind of a gift. And he goes, hey, listen, I've got some spare change in my pocket. I've got an extra fiver that I've been holding out on you. Let's go. We'll give that to him and we'll see what he says. And so what started off as a search for donkeys is actually going to turn into something much more spiritual in nature. So

verse 10, then Saul said to his servant, well said, let's go. So they went to the city where the man of God was. And as they went to the slope of the city, they found young women going out to draw water. And they said, is the seer here? They answered and said, he is, he is ahead of you. Hurry now for he has come into the city today for the people have a sacrifice on the high place. As soon as you enter the city, you will find him

before he goes up to the high place to eat for the people will not eat until he comes because he must bless the sacrifice. Afterward, those who are invited will eat, go up for you will find him at once. So they went up to the city and as they came into the city, behold, Samuel, was coming out toward them to go to the high place. Now, a day before Saul's coming, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel saying about this time tomorrow, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin and you shall anoint him to be Prince over my people, Israel. And he will deliver my

people from the hand of the Philistines for I have regarded my people because their cry has come to me. Now I love this because God prepared Samuel for this. And this is the way God works. God never just works on one end of things. God works on multiple ends of things. That's why when someone comes to you and says, I have a word for you from the Lord, you can go now, wait a second. God hasn't said anything like that to me. Let's see if God's

going to minister that to me as well, because God's not going to tell somebody else something for you, but he's not also going to be telling you. It's usually that, you know, it's a word from the Lord when it's something God's been telling you for like six months. And somebody comes to you and says, I have a word for you from the Lord. And you're like, okay, I get it, God. I'll pick up what you're putting down here, right? Because God has worked

on all ends of things. And so God prepares Samuel and says, there's this guy coming and you are going to need to anoint him as king. And so verse 17, when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, behold, the man of who I spoke to you, this one shall rule over my people. Then Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, please tell me where the seer's house is.

And Samuel answered Saul and said, I am the seer. Go up, before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today. And in the morning, I will let you go. And I will tell you all that is on your mind. That's maybe one of the scariest phrases anybody could ever say, right? Like you stick around tonight. And when you get up in the morning, I'm going to tell you everything that you've been thinking. I don't want anybody to tell me

everything I've been. I don't want to tell me everything I've been thinking, right? So I'm going to tell you all that's on your mind. Notice what he says in verse 20, as for your donkeys, which were lost three days ago, don't set your mind on them. For they've been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all of your father's household? And Saul replied, am I not a Benjamite of the smallest of

the tribes of Israel and my family, the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me this way? Then Samuel took Saul and his servant and he brought them into the hall and he gave them a place at the head of those who were invited, who were about 30 men. And Samuel said to the cook, bring the portion that I gave you concerning, which I said to you, set it aside. The cook took up the leg and what was on it, set it before Saul,

the choice piece of meat, basically. Here is what has been reserved. Set it before you and eat because it has been kept for you until the appointed time, since I have invited the people. So Saul ate with Samuel that day. And when they come down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof and they arose early. And at daybreak, Samuel called to Saul on the roof saying, get up that I may send you on your way.

So Saul arose and both he and Samuel went out into the street and they were going down to the edge of the city. Samuel said to Saul, say to the servant that he may go ahead of us and pass on. But you remain standing now that I may proclaim the word of God to you. And in just a moment, he's going to tell him that he's going to be king. But I want to point a couple of things out to you. The first

thing that I want to point out to you is this. God used something very natural to get Saul exactly where he needed for him to be. Saul thought he was going to find donkeys, but what he was really doing was getting to where Samuel was so that Samuel could give him a word from the Lord. Now I'm going to make two points out of this, maybe three. I haven't decided yet. The first point is this. Don't, don't just cast

off the natural things. Don't cast off what, what God is doing because God uses very natural things to do very supernatural things in our lives. What oftentimes seem like delays may actually be God's providence. What oftentimes feel like natural direction, or I didn't intend for this to happen can oftentimes turn out to be God's providence. And so keep your eyes open for what

God might want to do through some of the most natural things ever. As I shared with you on Sunday, I ended up in Ark city because God had a plan, but that plan first started with me being laid off from my job. It was a natural thing that turned into a natural thing. And so I'm going to do that. And so I'm going to do that. And so I'm going to do that. And so I'm going to do that. And so

it turned into something very supernatural in nature. And God does that all the time. I call it God working supernaturally naturally. And so God uses people and things and situations that we may not always pick up on at first to fulfill his will in our life. We just need to pray for that discernment to see what God is doing. That being said, don't go to extremes. Don't look for Jesus

in every stoplight, right? Don't, don't look for Jesus in every bubble that you see, because I talk to people sometimes and they're like, well, this happened. And I think it had to have been Jesus. And I'm like, I think that was just traffic, but I mean, I don't know, maybe it wasn't, you know, we can't get too ridiculous with it and see Jesus in every traffic jam.

But, but at the same time, God uses really natural things. So maintain a little balance with it, but understand that God does natural things in very supernatural ways. Right. And so, uh, so that's kind of the first and second points is that pay attention, but also don't go to extremes. But the third point is this. Isn't it kind of interesting how God was working on all of these things.

God sent Samuel or sent Saul off on this journey where he could simply be alone with his thoughts. His servant was there, but to be alone with his thoughts, to prepare him for what God had for him next. I think that there is something to be said for us as individuals to sometimes take a little time away, to take a little time apart, to truly hear from the Lord. I say that because once again, I'll point out to you, we live in a generation with a lot of noise and it's really hard to hear the word of God for us because we are around so much noise all the time. Have you

noticed that? This is what I find. I find most people can't live any part of their life without something making noise. They won't go to bed unless the TV's on. They can't work unless a radio's on. They can't work unless a radio's on. They can't do anything. They can't do anything. They can't do anything. walk unless they have their AirPods in or you name the thing. And this isn't just young people. I hate

when people are like, yeah, young people are that way. Look, I sat at a Walmart one time waiting on my car to get worked on. I was the only one under the age of 55 in the entire room. And I was the only one reading a book, not looking at my phone. Okay. So, so don't tell me this is the young people doing this. This is people of all ages doing this. Okay. But we live in an age of so

much noise. Then sometimes God wants us to get apart from the noise so that we can hear what his word is for us. And that's what God did with Saul here is he got him outside the noise, got him into a place that was a little bit uncomfortable for him so that he could hear the word of God for himself. And so they're in this place where Samuel's still a little bit like ambiguous with Saul. He's like, send your servant away. I've got something I

want to say to you. And then in verse 10, we're going to see Saul anointed, or in chapter 10, we're going to see Saul anointed as king. Notice what it says. Then Samuel took the flask of oil and he poured it on his head and he kissed him and he said, has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance? When you go from me today, you will find two men close to Rachel's tomb

and the territory of Benjamin at Zelza. And they will say to you, the donkeys, which you went to look for have been found. Behold, your father has been, has ceased being concerned about the donkeys and is now anxious for you saying, what shall I do about my son? Then you will go on further from there and you will come as far as the Oak of Tabor. And there three men going up to God at Bethel

will meet you. One carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread and another carrying a jug of wine. And they will greet you and they will give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand. And afterward, you will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is. And it shall be as soon as you come there to the city that you will meet a group of prophets

coming down from the high place with a harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them. And they will be prophesying. And then the spirit of God will come upon you mightily and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man. Don't you wish God gave you directions like that sometimes? Like those are the most specific directions ever. Like sometimes God's like, I need you to just take a step of faith, right? I'm going to tell you

as you take the step of faith, what you're going to do next. And then sometimes God is like, you will now find three men and they will be carrying these things. Like sometimes God gets really specific. He gets super specific with Saul here. This is pretty amazing. First of all, he starts off by anointing his head with oil. Now I learned something new about the oil today

that I thought was kind of fascinating. Apparently anointing someone with oil was not an uncommon, common practice at all in that particular region of the world in that time. Many of the pagan nations around Israel would anoint the heads of their Kings with oil, but the oil that they would use was derived of the fat of an animal, in particular, an animal that had great power. In other words, they would anoint them with that oil and they would say, may the power of this bull come upon you and you may you be powerful like a bull in your kingship.

Does that kind of make sense to you? That's how the nations around Israel, the pagan nations would anoint their Kings or their leaders. But the oil that Saul, that Samuel would have used to anoint the head of Saul was very much different than that. It would have been olive oil from an olive tree. Interestingly enough, not some powerful animal that would allow them to take

on the form of that animal and their power and their leadership, but a tree, a tree that would be rooted and grounded. And the idea behind that oil that they would be anointed with is may they be rooted and grounded in the truth of God. May they be rooted and grounded in God and may he be the one who would flow through them, not the power of some other being or deity. It would be a sign of God coming upon them. And of course, oil continued to be used not only within the nation

of Israel to anoint their Kings, but even in the new Testament, we would find that oil would always be equated with the Holy Spirit and his power coming upon those who were anointed. And that's what the anointing always spoke of is that the power of God coming upon you. And so he anoints him with oil. He lays out all of these things that are going to take place, which there's some fascinating things. First of all, the fact that he's going to come across these ladies who are

going to be like, don't worry about the donkeys, that problem solved. Second of all, he's going to come across these group of people that are carrying three very interesting things, donkeys, bread, and wine. Why are those three things interesting? Well, because they are very symbolic of a fellowship offering, right? And if Saul was to be the King, who did he need to be in fellowship with?

He needed to be in fellowship with God because that would ultimately be where his strength came from. But the really fascinating thing is when he comes across these prophets, do you notice what it says in verse six? Then the spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and you shall prophesy with him and listen, changed into another man. This is as close as you get to the idea of being born again in the Old Testament that you can possibly get to. Now, he was not born again because that won't happen

until Jesus comes, but he will become different in that the Holy Spirit will come upon him mightily. Now, the Holy Spirit operated a little bit differently with humans in the Old Testament than he did in the New Testament, or shall we say he came upon them differently. In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ, and he can indwell us because we have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Therefore, we are a fit tabernacle for him to come and dwell within because we've been cleansed from sin. In the Old Testament, there was not the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Not everyone who

was a member of the nation of Israel who worshiped God had the Holy Spirit come and dwell within them. But when God used someone in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon them for that particular purpose and for that particular purpose. And so, the Holy Spirit would come upon them for that particular time. It will be that same Holy Spirit that will be taken from Saul and replaced with an evil spirit when Saul rejects God and stops obeying him with all of his heart. That's where

it's different in the Old Testament than it is in the New Testament. Because in the New Testament, all you can do is grieve the Holy Spirit. He won't be taken from you. But the Spirit comes upon Saul because if he is to truly lead, what does he have to be filled with? What does he have to be overflowed with? What does he have to be filled with? What does he have to be filled with? What does he have to be

filled with? What does he have to be filled with? What does he have to be filled with? What does he have to has to come upon him? The power of the Holy Spirit. And he was changed into a different man. No longer was he Saul the Benjamite. Now, he was Saul the King, anointed and appointed by the Holy Spirit of God. It says in verse 7, and it shall be when these signs come to you, do for yourself what the

occasion requires for God is with you. And you shall go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I will come down to you to offer you the power of the Holy Spirit. And I will come down to you to offer a burnt offering and sacrifice and peace offering. And you shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do. Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God

changed his heart and all those signs came about on that day. Quick, I'm running out of time here, but how fascinating every sign. Okay, there's the first one. There's the second one. There they are. Those are the prophets. Isn't that amazing? I can't believe all of those things happen. That's the coolest thing. That's what I would do. So it says, verse 10, when they came to the hill there, behold, a group of prophets met him and the spirit

of God came upon him mightily so that he prophesied. And it came about when all who knew him previously saw that he had prophesied now with the prophets that the people said to one another, what has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? Again, I have to stop real quick. Is that not exactly the difference that the Holy Spirit makes in our lives? When people see us

before we were saved, before we were saved, before we were saved, before we were saved, before we were saved, and when people see us after we're saved and they say, is that the same guy? Is that the same lady? Because I can't believe it. Are they one of them? It's kind of what happens with Saul. It says in verse 13, and when he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

And Saul's uncle said to him and his servant, where'd you go? He said to look for the donkeys. And when we saw that they could not be found, we went to Samuel. And Saul's uncle said, tell me what Samuel said. So Saul said to his uncle, he told us plainly, that the donkeys had been found. He didn't say anything about being a king. He didn't say anything which Samuel had mentioned. Verse 17, therefore, Samuel called the people

together to the Lord at Mizpah, same place where they always seem to gather. He said to the sons of Israel, thus says the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. But today you have rejected your God who delivers you from all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. But today you have rejected your God who delivers you from all the kingdoms that all your calamities and your distresses. And you have said, set a king over us. Now, therefore,

present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans. Again, I got to stop and say one quick thing, but a heartbreaking moment for the nation of Israel. As God says, I've always been your king. I've always been the one who's delivered you. I've always been the one who's fought for you. Today, you've rejected me and you've asked for a king. And so if a king is what

you want, you've asked for a king. And so if a king is what you want, you've asked for a king. And a king is what you're going to have. Now, present yourselves. And so it says in verse 20 that Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near. The tribe of Benjamin was taken by Lot. And then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families. And that family was taken. And Saul saw the son of

Kish. And Saul, the son of Kish, was taken. But when they looked for him, he could not be found. Dude's taller than everybody else. How's he hiding? Anyway, when they looked for him, they could not be found. Like a shack hiding in a crowd, right? Therefore, they inquired further of the Lord. Has the man come here yet? And the Lord said, behold, he's hiding himself by the baggage. So they ran

and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than all the people from his shoulders upward. Samuel said to all the people, do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among all the people. And so the people shouted and said, long live the king. Then the people told Samuel the ordinances of the kingdom. Or then Samuel told

the people the ordinances of the kingdom and wrote them in the book and placed it before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own house. And Saul also went to his house at Gibeah. And valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him. But certain worthless men said, how can this one deliver us? And they despised him and did not believe him. And they

did not bring him any present, but kept silent. Three things I want to close with here in this last little section. The first is that Saul started off so well. He was so humble. Matter of fact, his humility was so great that when he got brought up, he's like, dude, I don't think I can do this. And he's like hiding, right? I just picture this like head sticking out of all the baggage. And he's

like, as everybody's walking by, because he's taller than everybody else, right? That's how I picture it. And so he started off so well, but it's not always how you start. It's how you finish. The second thing I'll point out to you is this. We should take note of what it says in verse 26. Saul went to his house at Gibeah and valiant men whose hearts or men whose hearts God had touched

went with him. Listen, there is just something to be said for a good leader to be surrounded by good men, good men who will strengthen him, good men who will stand with him, good men who will help him and the things that he is doing. And that's exactly who God provided for Saul as he brought provided him, forgive the pun, a few good men, some good men that would surround him, that would be able to help him and the things that he did. Because listen, no man can, can complete the task that Saul was called to do alone. No man is called to complete any task that God has called them to

do alone. He needs to be surrounded by men who will stand by him, hold him accountable, hold up his arms and be his greatest strength. But notice who else is there. Certain worthless men said, how can this one deliver us? We just have to know something. We have to know that there will always be worthless people who criticize. There will always be worthless people who criticize. And I find it fascinating that the people that were criticizing

Saul, Samuel called worthless. Because listen, if somebody is going to sit back and criticize and not do anything to help, that's exactly what they are, is they're worthless. As a matter of fact, that word can also be translated fools, because that's what God refers to them as. You see, worthless people sit back and criticize the movement that's being made. Good men stand beside

the leader and help him make it. Good men stand beside the leader and help him move forward. Worthless people stand back and criticize him as he does what God calls for him to do. So you need to know if there's people that only want to sit back and criticize you, you can find comfort in God knowing that he calls. He calls them worthless. You can just be like, listen, I know what God has to say about you,

and I'm going to let God fight my battle. Amen? Father, we come before you, and I thank you for the lessons in the book of 1 Samuel. Lord, I thank you that you are so gracious to provide us, Lord, with this truth, Lord, that you allow us to see the good, the bad, and the ugly. And so, Father, may we find our hope in you. And Father, as Samuel did, may we be

those who whisper in your ear constantly. Because those that, whisper in your ear constantly, hear from you consistently. And so, Lord, may we be those people, those people of prayer. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.